I've Always Been There
by firefoxflynn
Summary: He was only a broken shell of his former self. Through self exile. Naruto is the last of the shinobi in the new world that he has awakened in. Just one problem, who is this guy that's poking him with a sword? Could he please quit that? Anyway, Naruto is in a new world, much before his and the biju are no longer with him. His friends are all dead, and now he must walk, an exile.


**Well, welcome to my new story as I had previously stated. This is mostly the prologue before any of the plot starts. I hope you enjoy it. Please review and leave your comments to help make this story successful. PM for any questions or anything. Do help with grammar, as I am decent at it, but not the greatest. And if anyone could tell me a kanji translator for jutsus to be in japanese, that would be great! Enjoy :3**

~Unknown Area~

He was tired. Beyond tired in fact. How long had it been since he arrived to this place? He had lost track after counting to sixty, a thousand times. Beyond that, he was truly lost with time. He was just floating. Floating in a blank, white space, which was driving him mad. For once, Naruto Uzumaki, just wanted to give up, even if his ninja motto was to never give up, he just wanted to give up. For far too long he had been rooted to this godforsaken place. He needed to to find some kind of solace in this place.

Not even his fuzzball friend, Kurama, was here with him. Again, he felt that feeling of being anxious. He was alone again, in a place that he had no idea of and that made him unsettled. He missed his friend so much, that it pained him to be without him.

They had become an unstoppable force in the middle of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Across the battlefields he would be in perfect synch with his friend, decimating all that opposed them. He was an orange blur to everyone, and that was how he was seen as the second coming of his father, The Yellow Flash.

Memories ran through his mind as he recalled all the important times with Kurama. In the beginning when the fuzzball, with his blood red fur kept trying to kill him, or to the time when he was finally acknowledged as his equal. Kurama was his true friend in the war.

Sure he had his friends, all of them from Konoha and from the other hidden villages, but Kurama truly understood his loneliness, since the beginning he was with him. He would give anything to just have his friend back, but he couldn't, for Kurama was dead, in body and soul.

Those thoughts absently brought a fierce fist to Naruto's right hand. Oh how he hated what had happened. His friend was gone now, and he couldn't do anything about it, because, who he considered his rival, Sasuke Uchiha, had destroyed everything dear to him. This made Naruto very angry, as his fist continued to to get tighter until his knuckles were all white. It was no use reminiscing on the alternative actions that he could have done. Better to just learn from it, no matter how hard it was to know that he was mostly likely dead, wherever he was.

Sighing and running a hand through his golden locks, Naruto released the pressure from his right hand and stared at it. The very same hand that kicked that Uchiha's ass with a rasengan to the face, and pop went his face.

He chuckled to himself, a dry chuckle at that. It was funny to see the bastard's face go wide-eyed as he ducked under his infamous chidori and slide the rasengan around his outlocked arm and into his face. Pop goes the weasel as they say. It had been such an enjoyable experience to exact a pseudo-sort of revenge for Kurama against the Uchiha. The fuzzball always hated them, and he could understand now why he did.

They were selfish bastards, always spouting how they were the elite of all the shinobi, and how he hated the power-ups that they got from awakening their godly eyes. That was always the most frustrating part when facing them. Coming from him, he who had to work his ass off to train and reach the level of power that he had during the war, took years, well with experience of time it was, but hey, he was entitled to his own little cheat source, the Shadow Clone Technique.

It worked in his favor and he gladly enjoyed the vast wealth of knowledge that the Technique granted him, and only if Kakashi hadn't been such an ass and not told him the the secret earlier. Admittedly he was quite brash, obnoxious and dumb when he was younger, but he soon blossomed into what one could be considered a legend on the battlefield.

The war had gone on a lot longer than was intended, approximately five years it had gone on for. But that's for another time. What mattered was that he managed to defeat the smug Uchiha, and effectively end the war. Sure the war should have ended with Kaguya being sealed up and the old man sealing her body up in a new moon again. And boom, it was to be over.

That was all for nought, in his case. Sasuke, in all his infinite stupidity didn't just restart the war, he effectively wiped out the entire shinobi populace with that blasted infinite Tsukuyomi again, but this time he killed everyone in it.

With everyone caught in the genjutsu, save for him and Kakashi, which he had no clue how, a whole lot of shinobi went bye bye. And it hurt to watch as so many innocent, well in his mind, souls be sent to the next world. And that was where he had lost it.

~Memory Relapse~After The Defeat of Kaguya~

Naruto stood perplexed before the bastard that he once thought was a friend. '_What had he just said. Oh yes, the bastard wants to destroy the ninja populace, wipe out humanity, and rebuild the world in his image.'_ After everything they had been through, even with him ignoring his act of betrayal three years ago, he still thought there would have been some semblance of understanding between him and Sasuke. '_It was all for nought then, I guess,' _he thought. Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance, these thoughts had happened a few years ago with the same instance.

Why did he bother anymore? Oh yeah, he was just too kind and ignorant to think that his supposed friend was truly evil, and only was going through a hardship. Steeling his nerves, Naruto looks to his right towards Kakashi. With a shake of his head, Kakashi along with Sakura, disappears in a blur of speed.

Looking back to Sasuke, who stood a good twenty meters away from him, Naruto stiffens his posture.

"So is that what you truly think about this world? There is no one anymore with any sliver of goodness in their heart to you Sasuke? Well? Are we that corrupted?" Naruto shouted with anger coiling through his veins, enough that his eyes flashed red momentarily. Sasuke looked at him with a bored expression on his face.

"That is correct, no one in this world can live. I shall carry the burden of the world. I shall be the catalyst that destroys this world's populace, and create a new one in my image. All that is left is for me to kill you, and then that fool Kakashi and that joke of a medical ninja, Sakura."

Naruto fixated him with a deadly glare, "Even after everything we have been through. You were my brother, and I thought we understood each other. We had this connection, and you are willing to just throw it away after everything!?"

Sasuke chuckled darkly and spoke with an evil grin, "Everything that we went through was to destroy our common enemy. I merely played the role of the enemy of my enemy is my friend role marvelously. You are just that big of a fool to think that. You are merely an obstacle in my path to glory. I shall eradicate you from this very plane of existence."

Naruto's gaze dropped down to the ground beneath his tired body. "I see then. Is that your final answer? There is nothing that can change your mind? You are willing to go this far to trample on your brother's legacy."

Sasuke's eyes flashed as he gazed at Naruto with hatred. He scowled, "how dare you bring him into this! You have no idea how much he sacrificed for your miserable village. He gave up everything, and do you know what the village's people did? They spat on his name, labeled him a traitor, and it destroyed him. He gave up everything for nothing in return. He deserved better, and I plan to capitalize that by destroying this world's system of ninjas." Sasuke's hand formed a tight fist after scowling, his trademark Uchiha scowl.

A low dark chuckle came from the opposing blond. Until it turned into full blown laughter. "Hahaha, that's what you think, that I don't know what it means for that to happen." His eyes darkened at that, and a stoic expression appeared on Naruto's face. "Should should know what that village did to me itself, but I grew up. You, have not learned that, and you are only holding onto a petty image that revenge is necessary."

"Shut up you loser!" he yelled.

"I understand what your brother did. And I'm sorry for what happened, but I am not going to let that happen. If I must kill you… then I will if I have to protect my village and the world." Naruto solemnly replies. His face became impassive as his stance shifted to a low crouch.

Sasuke looked on with a mirthful chuckle, "Like you could do anything to stop me, I'll kill you before you even can...ppppplllllghhh." His never could finish his sentence as his blonde opponent had moved within an instant and instantaneously shoved a haymaker to his face. _'Since when did he move that fast. I couldn't even track him, only sense him. Shit! I'm not getting away from that one easily. I have to be careful, I underestimated him.' _

Those were the only thoughts that went through his head as he was launched a fair distance back. Twisting his body so that he could roll and spring to his feet, Sasuke barely had a moment, before Naruto was behind him. _'Again, how is he this fast.' _Spinning on his heel, Sasuke lashed out with a kick towards Naruto, which was easily blocked by Naruto grabbing his foot with his left hand, and punching Sasuke in his face. Before he could even comprehend what had happened, Sasuke felt two hands behind his head bring him down.

With alarming speed, Sasuke barely ducked and broke out of Naruto's grip before his knee passed over his head with a rush of air. Rolling away, Sasuke jumped back a few meters to put distance between him and Naruto. Naruto merely stood up, and looked at Sasuke with that same stoic face. "Are you going to give up now, so that I won't have to kill you?" Naruto coldly replied. Sasuke looked at him with an exasperated look.

"I'm not evening close to losing to you dobe." Looking up and around at the large amounts of roots and cocoons from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Sasuke gave a very dark grin. "I learned a few things about this technique… a few good points." He gestured with his hand around the battle scene, from the previous confrontations with Kaguya and Madara.

"Don't tell me…," Naruto replied.

"Oh yes… hahaha, I know how to permanently prolong this technique or even say, obliterate everyone that is in it, which just happens to be the whole elemental nations." Sasuke's grin became even more vicious than before, a thought that now actually scared Naruto, if he heard correctly of what Sasuke had just stated. He had a means to destroy an entire population. That was very grave news.

"Don't do this Sasuke! These are human lives that we are talking about, not some lowly animals!" Naruto shouted in grief, because at the prospect of losing his friends, he was scared. The friend before him was truly lost if he continued with what he was planning.

"Oh I'm sorry dobe," he said, emphasizing the last word, "I thought that you were going to stop me? Like I said you never could." Naruto's eyes widened at that prospect, thousands of thoughts going through his mind, but only one word came out.

"DON'T…," but that was interrupted with a single phrase._ 'Don't, don't, don't do this. All these people will die if he does that.'_ Too late for Naruto though.

"**Infinite Tsukuyomi:** **Infinity Devastation**!" Those were the words that would always haunt Naruto, and change the boy that turned into a true man in that very instant. Everything went blank for Naruto, everyone one was dead now. Sentenced to death in a peaceful way, but no hopes of saving them.

Blood rained down upon Naruto, staining his blonde locks and his already tattered clothes. There was no one left, he didn't know where Kakashi and Sakura were, at the moment, and Kurama was complete and sealed along with all the other Bijū in Sasuke's floating balls of rock. Plus there were none of his father's Hiraishin markers to teleport too. That was his secret to appearing before Sasuke instantly, as his father had told him the very secret of them during their brief encounter. The closest one was at his feet and not near Sasuke.

He could do nothing to save them. And at any logically given situation like this, his mind froze. Naruto stood frozen on the spot has he became drenched in blood as all the bodies of every ninja were crushed to smithereens in an instant. A blank look was fully adopted on Naruto's face. His mind was broken, his soul was broken and his heart was broken. He was a dead invisible space among the land of the living. A mere ghost to beheld at that moment.

But that was unacceptable! He wouldn't let Sasuke get away with this. There was only so much that he was willing to forgive, but this was unforgivable, and for that he was going to make him rot in hell. Naruto's broken voice came out in small expressionless sobs.

"You killed them all…, you aren't human anymore." His voice cracked at that, but rose with steady anger. "You are not worth saving anymore, I'm through with this, you can rot in hell, and I will be sure to become the reaper that rips your soul from this plane of living. SASUKE!"

Sasuke looked at him with a mocking grin and looked on towards Naruto. His smile grew even larger and evil as he heard what Naruto said. His reply came in a dark chuckle. "There is nothing left for you Naruto. As I said, I learned a few things, and I can't wait to kill you, so come Naruto Uzumaki, show me what a supposed friend can do to stop me and kill me, because I am no longer human as you said, but a **God**." His voice became deeper at the mention of the word God. His arrogance was just another trademark to the standard Uchiha.

At that, Naruto looked into Sasuke's eyes, not with the sort of dead eyes that come a person with a broken mind, but pure arctic chips of blue and white ice. It was a frozen and untamable fire that would burn anything. Those very same eyes bore holes into the Uchiha, and for a moment a sense of pure dread came across his mind. _'What did I just unleash.'_ was his only thought. It is often said that the most happy go-lucky people, the very definition of one Naruto Uzumaki, were the scariest when provoked with their infinite patience. And that was exactly what happened.

Chakra exploded into pure monstrous proportions beyond anything Sasuke had ever felt before. _'Impossible. How did he have this much chakra left? This is more than the Juubi's or even Kaguya's. This is insane. It just can't be. I have to think of a plan fast. Things are going to get bad fast._' Sasuke was scared now. The pure chakra coming off of Naruto was unheard of, and he had no clue why. What also perplexed him was the color of the chakra. It was pitch black, with a very dark color of gold, and blue surrounding him. And the pressure was starting to to put cracks in the ground around the blonde and small rocks were lifting into the air. It was a truly scary sight as those eyes wanted to burn him, the great Sasuke Uchiha.

"There is no forgiveness for you anymore Uchiha Sasuke. For far too I forgave your actions, but never again. You are dead to me now." Those were brutal and fierce words that came out of Naruto's mouth. He was no longer that naive, I still believe in boy. After what he saw, he could no longer be one.

Let it be known, that chakra adapts to the user's wills in order to activate. In Naruto's case, his will to destroy Sasuke is a large contributor to this effect. And with the incarnation of the sage's body and chakra, Naruto truly was a devastating force in that moment. And with that, Naruto truly showed the Uchiha how far a foot could go up a person's ass and kick their butt.

Taking a stance to that of a crouch, Naruto bent his knees, jumped and blurred into action against Sasuke. Sasuke reacted on reflex and jumped back as a blonde blur in a multi-colored coat of chakra annihilated the area before Sasuke with a flying axe kick. An easy twenty foot crater formed under the blonde's raw strength. _'I better watch that. He not's as fast from before, but it is still faster than me, and my eyes can barely keep up with him. Let's see him try this!' _were the Uchiha's thoughts. Running through hand signs, he quickly called out as he was in the air, moving backwards.

"**Fire Release: Great Searing Flames**." A literal tsunami of fire, flaming white, came towards Naruto. He looked towards Sasuke with those same arctic eyes, and disappeared again. The instant the Uchiha landed, he had to duck a powerful spinning kick from Naruto, as the blonde had blurred under the flames in an instant. With a slight movement of his right leg, Sasuke sprung into motion bringing up his left leg to kick Naruto in the chin, but that was thwarted as Naruto twisted his left hand into motion, using the momentum from the kick, and flipping over the Uchiha. His response was to lash out with a punch to Sasuke's back that was quickly sidestepped.

Landing on his right leg, the blonde speedily front flipped on that leg to avoid the arm of Sasuke's partially formed Susanoo. The arm missed and crashed into the ground, resulting in a small explosion of dust and earth. The arm quickly retracted back and stayed prone as Sasuke looked on towards Naruto. Creating two clones, Naruto split off into three different directions towards Sasuke.

Sasuke, with the partial Susanoo, rushed off towards the nearest clone, with the left hand of the Susanoo manifesting a chakra sword. Swinging the sword in a horizontal slash, the clone slid under the slash, but did not account for the other arm to smash it into the ground with a poof as it disappeared.

Momentarily distracted with the first clone, Sasuke watched as the second clone came at him a spiraling sphere of white chakra in his hand.

"Eat this. **Wind Release: Giant Rasengan**!" the clone screamed. The only problem was that Sasuke's Susanoo held true against the powerful signature move of the blonde, but that was all that was needed for Naruto. The clone was merely a distraction.

With a poof, the clone was destroyed too, but the original Naruto was no where in the line of sight of Sasuke. This was getting to be a problem for Sasuke, as much as he was arrogant, he knew that he barely had much chakra left after battling for so long. If the battle between him and Naruto continued, he would no doubt lose. He was barely holding on to the Susanoo, and he still couldn't take the chakra from the biju as he was inexperienced with most of the Rinnegan's power.

Surveying the surroundings, he deactivated the Susanoo to save chakra, but still kept a wary eye for the blonde. Up, down, left, right. He was no where to be found, well until a fist came into near contact with his face. Time slowed down for the Uchiha as he anticipated the attack. Catching the fist, and at the same time absorbing some of Naruto's chakra, the Uchiha flipped Naruto over his shoulder and kicked the blonde in the stomach away from him.

Following up with a new portion of strength, the Uchiha formed another set of hand seals. "How about you take this dobe. **Fire Release: Flaming Destruction**." Fire erupted from his mouth in multiple flame waves. His signature **chidori** formed in his hands and he rushed off in the blonde's general direction behind the massive waves of fire.

With the blonde, he was quickly on his feet and skidding back from the momentum from the kick. Cringing in pain a moment, from the kick to his stomach, he lifted his head in time to see the giant waves of fire coming towards him. Standing up, the large amount of chakra coming off of him began to swirl around the blond in a flurry of colored chakra.

"I will stop you Sasuke. You cannot be allowed to live!" he yelled. The blond took the waves of fire head on as they collided with his makeshift chakra tornado. Black, gold and blue met red in a huge clash of dominance, each fighting to overrun each other.

After a few moments, Naruto threw out his right hand, and in that moment the flames from Sasuke's jutsu dispersed. Out of the wave of fire Sasuke appeared.

"**Chidoriiii!**"

That effort proved to be fruitless as Sasuke's lightning covered hand was grabbed. _'This is just like the time with Itachi...I am not going to repeat that same mistake!'_ Lightning coursed through his body and expelled in an attempt to paralyze the his blonde opponent. It never hit though, as Naruto disappeared in a black and gold flash.

Naruto reappeared a little distance away from Sasuke. He called out to his opponent, "I really am going to have to thank my dad for teaching me this on such a short notice. You still haven't figured out that in this moment you are through." His only reply was a scowl from the Uchiha. "So be it then," came from Naruto's mouth as he disappeared for a second time.

Sasuke knew that he was in trouble if Naruto knew the Hirashin. It was a deadly sealing array that could be used for many applications, and he did not where Naruto was, except for he saw the slight flare of chakra on his arm, and his eyes widened considerably as he knew it was bad. Even with his Sharingan and arrogance he knew he couldn't escape what was about to happen. And so it happened.

One moment he was standing, and the next he was grabbed from behind. Blinking, Sasuke found himself slammed into the ground, hard. The air left Sasuke's lungs as he was slammed into the ground, and then lifted again and slammed again, quite painfully this time. And so he was slammed twice more, before on the third time again he tried to lash out with a kick midair towards Naruto's midsection, but he only disappeared and reappeared to spin kick him in the stomach.

At this, Sasuke coughed up blood. He was tired, and it was finally starting to affect his movements too. He didn't even have the chakra anymore, except for maybe a single chidori or two. But at the moment he was unable to do anything to defend himself against the onslaught Naruto was handing him. Then again he deserved it, well that was what Naruto thought. He just destroyed the ninja populace in order to end all hatred and hope that eventually the world will learn from its mistake. He wanted peace too, just in a misguided world view.

His train of thought was stopped, when Naruto appeared behind him again and clotheslined him in the back of the neck and zoned him into the cold ground before him. Now Sasuke was really starting to lose it. Spinning on his stomach and jumping he avoided a **rasengan** to the back of his spine and almost savagely killed. Skidding to a halt, he watched as Naruto stood up again, this time his cloak of chakra dissapearing, but only momentarily as his felt it begin to spike again near the blonde's cupped hands.

"Shit!" he cursed. Jumping back to put even more distance between him and his opponent, he went through handseals. _'This is about the last of my chakra being put into this jutsu. Don't fail me.' _"**Uchiha Secret Arts: Fire Release: Grand Spiraling Flare Storm!**" This was the strongest fire jutsu in the Uchiha clan's arsenal. A secret S-rank jutsu, developed by Izuna Uchiha himself in order to combat armies of enemy ninjas. Let it be said, Sasuke was amazed himself, as this was the first time he used it. Even then, his blonde opponent still stood, with his arms cupped in the air gathering chakra. It was probably one of those **rasengan** techniques that he always used. No matter, he had the plan to defeat the blonde.

Secretly he had been able to burn the **Hirashin **markers on his body with some small flames from the black fires of **Amaterasu. ** So, for the blonde to appear before him would be impossible. It was a set plan according to him. He was to use this to either distract the blonde or just outright kill him. If it didn't he would be use the opportunity for Naruto to try and **Hirashin**, but be distracted as he couldn't and attack the blonde.

A large spiralling fire storm swirled towards our favourite blonde. _'Shit! I better finish this, otherwise that firestorm is going to burn me to a crisp. I don't want that happening.' _Pumping chakra even faster through his arms. _'Done!_' he thought. Splitting his arms apart, his rasengan variant came to life. _'This is still a new jutsu, so I can only hope it works. Come on….'_

"**Wind Release:Rasengan Variation: Opposing** **Spiralling Shurikens." **This jutsu was exactly as its name entailed. Two **rasenshurikens**, each one rotating in each direction. It was a means to grind together and cause massive wind chakra explosions in all directions. Well that was what Naruto hoped. But for this one, he had another plan.

In that instant, the massive firestorm was upon him. He quickly thrust out the one **rasenshuriken** that rotated against the massive firestorm. The Uchiha's eyes widened at that comically as he watched the firestorm engulf the blonde's figure. Was it that easy to kill him? He laughed. A laugh of relief as he watched the firestorm start to dissipate.

His laughing died short though, as his ears picked up the buzzing of the blonde's jutsu. He was still standing there with his arm thrust out and a dark red **rasenshuriken **in his right hand. How? That jutsu was the strongest he could muster, but Naruto withstood it easily. It was completely unbelievable. The **rasenshuriken** died down into a normal** rasengan.** His other arm wasn't so lucky though. He smirked at that.

The blonde's left arm was burnt badly and sporting black burns on him that were already starting to heal, and even that amazed the Uchiha, that he could regenerate that fast. A low mumble came out of the blonde's mouth as he charged towards the Uchiha. The Uchiha responded in tow to bravely charge at the blonde titan with a **chidori** in his right arm.

In a mere few moments the two combatants reached each other. Naruto thrust out his hand first, but that was caught by the Uchiha's left hand. He smirked at that, he had this in the bag now. "It's over now Naruto. Die!" He thrust his lightning covered hand forward. Moving his eyes in glee as his hand sailed to the blonde in an everly slow fashion, but he frowned when his hand was kicked up by the blonde's knee, missing his heart and piercing his left top shoulder.

The blonde gave out a grunt as the Uchiha kicked him away, in the stomach again. His shoulder was numb from the electricity, but it was bleeding a whole lot. He had got lucky there. He didn't know how, but apparently his body moved and saved his life, but it still hurt like a bitch. It would have been better if he died. He would be able to see his parents and friends if that happened, but it didn't.

Standing up on wobbly and shaken feet, the blonde let out a slight cry of pain as he stood up, his aching shoulder slowly healing. He looked up to see the Uchiha running at him again with a **chidori** in hand. A small **rasengan** formed in his hand as he started jogging and then eventually running towards the Uchiha, for which he hoped would be the last time for it to happen.

This time he was prepared for the incoming lightning covered hand, and this time he gave his own smirk as he disappeared in a yellow flash. _'What!? But that's impossible! Where could he have gone?' _Those were his frantic thoughts for that mere lapse of time, before our blonde hero appeared to the left side of his right hand, with a swirling ball of chakra. That very same ball of death that slipped under his guard and was heading towards his face. _'Looks like you win this time Naruto. Good fight loser.'_

A small spurt of blood and gore was all that came as the Uchiha's face was destroyed. And with that the Uchiha Clan was no more.

Naruto huffed and puffed as he was physically and mentally exhausted. Reeling back his head to look up towards the sky, a few muttered words were all that came from his mouth before he passed out into the blissful world of unconsciousness.

"I'm sorry everyone…"

TBC...


End file.
